Monday, December 01, 2025
Flash back:
In 2017, I realized a lifelong dream of becoming a digital nomad and moving to Southeast Asia.
Over the next 8 months, I hopscotched around the region…
Living in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia…
All while working remotely as a freelance copywriter.
The weather was hot & sunny…
The food was delicious…
The people were friendly…
And the cost to live was super cheap.
In other words, it was everything I’d been dreaming of.
Except, there were a few surprises no one warned me about…
Such as:
How hard it was to work a 9 to 5 in a place where everyone else was on vacation mode 24/7….
What it felt like to miss Christmas with my family…
Feeling isolated from my friends…
Having to cycle through the same couple of outfits for months on end…
Being unable to buy anything because I had nowhere to store it.
I could keep going…
But hopefully you get the picture:
I quickly realized that nomad life was NOT for me.
And by the end of 8 months, I was desperate to come back to Canada and have my own place again.
Now, the reason I’m sharing this story with you is…
Because there’s a lesson hidden within it that also applies to building a profitable email newsletter.
Which is:
There’s often a difference between fantasy and reality.
This is something many coaches, consultants, and experts find out the hard way.
They see people like Sahil Bloom, Chris Williamson, and James Clear bragging about how successful their newsletters are…
Without realizing how many subscribers they’d actually need to replicate those results.
For example:
Most sponsors won’t even give you the time of day unless you’ve got 10,000 subscribers or more.
However, sponsorships typically only yield $0.25 to $0.50 per subscriber per month…
(assuming you sell out all your ad inventory)
So even if you can acquire your first 10k subscribers…
Whether that’s through paid ads, where you’ll pay $2-$4+ per subscriber…
(requirement: $20,000-$40,000+ in ad spend)
Or through organic content, where you’ll convert ~10% of your followers into subscribers.
(requirement: 100,000+ followers)
Once you’ve got there, you might only be able earn $2,500 to $5,000 per month.
Not exactly private jet money.
This is why I recommend story-driven newsletters instead.
Since each email is driven by a relevant story that ties directly into your product or service…
You can essentially start monetizing on Day 1.
And achieve much higher earnings per subscriber vs expert or curation-style newsletters.
So if you’re a coach, consultant, or expert looking to build a profitable email newsletter…
But aren’t blessed with a trust fund, VC backing, or a massive audience…
Then check out my 15-Minute Emails That Sell Crash Course.
Inside, you’ll learn how to write story-driven emails that subscribers LOVE to read and buy from… really fast… even if you’re not an expert :)
I walk you through examples of real emails that converted for myself and for clients, line-by-line…
Show you how to come up with UNLIMITED story-driven email ideas…
Hand you my fill-in-the-blanks template + AI prompts so you can get ChatGPT to write your emails for you…
And even write an email from scratch in 15 minutes.
Just to prove it can be done.
So if that sounds interesting…
I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy before the sale ends.
Details are below:
Get instant access to the 15-Minute Emails That Sell Crash Course
Jim Hamilton